Wrapping material roll package and roll support therefor



Nov. 14, 1967 M. SALLADAY ETAL I 3,352,410

WRAPPING MATERIAL ROLL PACKAGE AND ROLL SUPPORT THEREFOR Filed Feb. 28, 1966 INVENTORS. MARK SALLADAY and CARL E JONES m, M 7m Attorneys United States Patent.

WRAPPING MATERIAL ROLL PACKAGE AND ROLL SUPPORT THEREFOR Mark Salladay, 24 Murdock St., Canonsburg, Pa.

15317, and Carl F. Jones, 53 Highland Park, Bethel Park, Pa. 15102 Filed Feb. 28, 1966, Ser. No. 530,547

3 Claims. (Cl. 20652) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to the packaging of rolls of wrapping material, and especially to a support for .use in such packages. The invention is for a supporting member for placement in a carton in which a large roll of sheet material such as aluminum foil is packed. The supporting member is an integral hollow plastic body having spaced front and rear walls, with a stud on the front wall projecting from the face thereof at right angles designed for insertion in the hollow core on which the sheet material is wound. The two walls constituting the body are joined at their peripheries, and each wall has reinforcing corrugations or internal ridges formed therein with the corrugations of one wall being in intersecting relation to those on the other wall, and the corrugations being joined to each other at the points of intersection, providing a rigid, but light-weight end support for keeping the roll positioned in the carton and allowing it to freely rotate. Y

Various wrapping material is packaged for use in the form of a roll contained within a box, and the user pulls the desired length of material from the roll, tears it off, usually by using a serrated edge incorporated in the box to [facilitate tearing along a straight line. Small rolls for ordinary household use turn freely in the box as the material is pulled out. For institutional and commercial use, much longer rolls containing webs several hundred feet in length are sold. Aluminum foil, for example, is sold for institutional and commercial use in rolls several inches in diameter and weighing about 25 pounds. Such rolls must be supported in the box so as to rotate freely as a length of foil is pulled from the roll. Rolls of this size are usually wound on a rigid hollow core of metal or cardboard.

While the roll must besupported in the carton in such manner that the roll may turn freely as a length of the web of foil'or other wrapping material is pulled off, the package as a whole'must be expendable so as to be discarded when'the material has been exhausted, thereby rendering the use of any but very inexpensive packaging elements prohibitive.

For purposes of illustration, the present invention will be described in connection with a package for a roll of aluminum foil, since rolls of foil are especially susceptible to damage in storage, transit, or subsequent use.

According to the present invention, a strong fiberboard carton similar to those now used is employed, but for supporting the roll in the carton in a manner to turn freely and protect the ends of the foil from damage, there is placed in the carton at each end of the roll a specially formed plastic base plate of a dimension to substantially cover the end wall of the carton, and which is provided with a central stud to enter the core of the roll with there being an annular ledge or shoulder around the base of the stud against which the end of the core bears and which keeps the ends of the roll itself in spaced relation to the respective base plates. The base, stud and ledge are integral and the base is preferably hollow but reinforced in such manner as to be light in weight and inexpensive, but nevertheless rigid;

3,352,410 Patented Nov. 14, 1967 It may be further explained that it has heretofore been the practice to provide a wooden panel in each end of the box with a peg that projects therefrom into the core of the roll of wrapping material. This has several drawbacks, including the fact that these supports afforded inadequate protection to the ends of the rolls and created considerable frictional resistance to the turning of the rolls.

Our invention may be more fully understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view through the complete package with the lid of the carton closed, the view being on a much reduced scale;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of one of the two similar end supports;

FIG. 3 is a front elevation of the member shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a rear elevation;

FIG. 5 is a transverse section in substantially the plane of line V-V of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary section in the plane of line VIVI of FIG. 4 showing the interior construction at one corner of the support; and

FIG. 7 is a section on a larger scale in substantially the plane of line VII-VII of FIG. 4.

In the drawings 2 designates a boxboard carton of usual construction which is generally square in crosssection, and which is four-sided with one side comprising a hinged flap or cover 3, and these sides are generally rectangular. Within the box is a coil of wrapping material 4 which may be a 25-pound roll of aluminum foil. It is customarily wound on a hollow core 5 which may be either cardboard or aluminum tubing.

According to the present invention there is provided a support member 6 at each end of the box between the end of the roll 4 and the end of the wall of the box.

The support members 6, which are of like construction at each end of the roll, are integrally formed of plastic and have a base panel 7 that is generally square in shape and corresponds to the interior dimensions of square ends of the box 2. It has an integral circular shoulder or ledge 8 centrally positioned thereon, and from this platform there projects an integral hollow stud 9, the exterior diameter of which is large enough to have a working fit inside the core 5 of the roll. The cross-sectional dimension of the box is larger than the roll diameter and the panels 7, being of the same area, are such that when the roll is supported by one of these support members at each end, the periphery of the roll will be clear of the sides of the box and the end supports will confine the roll against endwise movement. The end of the core bears against the raised portion or shoulder 8, keeping the ends of the roll of wrapping material entirely clear of the panel 7. With this construction, any impact or pressure endwise against the box will be transmited to the rigid core 5 and the aluminum foil or other wrapping material, being spaced from the panels 7, will not be damaged by impact with these panels.

The end supports '6 are integrally formed from a plastic material. Preferably they are blow-molded from a thermoplastic material and they are formed in such manner as to have great rigidity, but to require a small amount of material, and therefore be of light weight and inexpensive.

Designating the face [from which the projection extends as the front face, each support in addition to the collar or shoulder portion 8 and the stud 9 has a plurality, preferably two, concentric grooves molded into it. The front panel is designated '10 and the grooves are designated 12 and 13. The opposite or back face of the supporting member, designated 14, is formed with a plurality, preferably four, radial grooves 15 therein, these radial grooves preferably extending diagonally from the hollow central portion 16 of the stud toward but not to the four corners of the panel, terminating short of the corners. The support has a peripheral wall 17 and the parting line of the mold in which the device is blown is in the plane of line A--A of FIG. 5. The blow hole is indicated at 17a.

By reference to FIGS. 5, 6, and 7, it will be seen that the bottom walls of the annular recesses 12 and 13 on the front face are integral with the inner faces of the radial grooves 15 in the rear face at the points where the annular grooves cross the diagonal grooves. By reason of this arrangement the front wall 10 and the rear wall 14 are tied together inside the hollow blow-molded structure at several points. The annular channels on the front face and the radial grooves on the rear face are in effect inwardly-turned strengthening ribs or ridges on the interior of the structure. As a result of this arrangement, the projections 9 can support the weight of the roll of wrapping material while the base has sufficient rigidity, even though made of relatively thin thermoplastic material, to resist distortion, and the end supports, while being of light weight, are reinforced against stresses in all directions. Because of the fact that the radial or diagonal internal ribs 15 do not extend to the very corners of the structure but terminate just short of the corners, air for blowing the plastic to this shape can flow into all parts of the interior of the support for blow-molding it, whereas if the internal ribs providing the grooves '15 extended clear into the corner walls, there would be a period in the blowmolding when the flow of air required to expand the plastic uniformly would be blocked.

We prefer to use a plastic such as polyethylene, or more desirably polypropylene, not only because of the relatively low cost of this material and the ease with which it can be blow-molded, but importantly because it has a unique wax-like surface that has a low coefficient of friction and hence offers little resistance to the turning of the roll of wrapping material in the package, making it much easier to pull a length of the wrapping material out of the package than the wooden supports heretofore provided. This is particularly true in view of the provision of the raised part or shoulder 8 on the front surfaces of each support at the base of the stud 9, so that only the core and the web material immediately adjacent the core may contact with the supporting members.

A further advantage of using a thermoplastic resin such as polypropylene or polyethylene in contrast to a thermosetting resin is its greater impact or shock resistance. Because of its tough, somewhat resilient quality, it

will not fracture if the package is dropped or abused in shipment, whereas a compression-molded thermosetting material which might have the required structural strength is much more brittle and affords less protection against damage to the package under similar conditions.

While we have shown and described one preferred embodiment of our invention, it will be understood that this is by way of illustration and that various changes and modifications may be made within the contemplation of our invention and under the scope of the following claims,

We claim:

1. A separate roll supporting member for supporting the end of a roll of wrapping material with a hollow central core in a carton comprising:

a base panel designed to tit the end of a carton in which the roll is to be placed, said panel having spaced front and back walls,

a stud projecting outwardly from the front wall of said panel at right angles thereto, said stud being of a diameter to be received in the hollow core of the roll, and

a shoulder on said front wall about the base of the stud where it joins the panel of slightly larger diameter than the interior of the core,

the panel, stud and shoulder being integrally formed from plastic, said front and back walls being joined to each other about the periphery of the panel, said walls having spaced bracing means integral therewith and located between the walls, joining the walls together at various positions between the stud and the periphery of the panels.

2. A roll supporting member as defined in claim 1 wherein the support is blow-molded from thermoplastic material and has spaced front and back walls joined by a peripheral wall, a stud projecting outwardly from the face of the front panel at right angles thereto, one of said walls having internally-projecting ridges formed therein concentric about the stud and the other having internallyprojecting radial ridges formed therein with the radial ridges on the one wall intersecting the concentric ridges on the other Wall with the ridges being joined where they intersect.

3. A roll supporting member as defined in claim 1 wherein the support is blow-molded from thermoplastic material and has spaced front and back walls joined by a peripheral wall, a roll supporting stud projecting outwardly from the front Wall at right angles thereto, one of said walls having internallyeprojecting ridges formed therein arranged in one pattern and the other having internally formed ridges arranged in a different pattern with the ridges on the two walls intersecting at a plurality of locations within the panel and being joined at the several points of intersection.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,713,129 5/1929 Hope 206-52 X 2,472,248 6/1949 Cox 242118.7 2,836,292 5/1958 Klein et al. 20658 2,844,246 7/1958 Kingsley 20652 3,073,541 1/1963 Layton et al. 206-55.53 3,228,519 1/1966 Don-g et al. 20658- 3,228,579 1/1966 Dong et al. 206-68 X 3,260,362 7/1966 Schwinne 206'59 3,276,717 10/1966 Lewis et al. 242118.61

THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner, LOUIS G. MANCENE, Examiner, 

1. A SEPARATE ROLL SUPPORTING MEMBER FOR SUPPORTING THE END OF A ROLL OF WRAPPING MATERIAL WITH A HOLLOW CENTRAL CORE IN A CARTON COMPRISING: A BASE PANEL DESIGNED TO FIT THE END OF A CARTON IN WHICH THE ROLL IS TO BE PLACED, SAID PANEL HAVING SPACED FRONT AND BACK WALLS, A STUD PROJECTING OUTWARDLY FROM THE FRONT WALL OF SAID PANEL AT RIGHT ANGLES THERETO, SAID STUD BEING OF A DIAMETER TO BE RECEIVED IN THE HOLLOW CORE OF THE ROLL, AND A SHOULDER ON SAID FRONT WALL ABOUT THE BASE OF THE STUD WHERE IT JOINS THE PANEL OF SLIGHTLY LARGER DIAMETER THAN THE INTERIOR OF THE CORE, THE PANEL, STUD AND SHOULDER BEING INTEGRALLY FORMED FROM PLASTIC, SAID FRONT AND BACK WALLS BEING JOINED TO EACH OTHER ABOUT THE PERIPHERY OF THE PANEL, SAID WALLS HAVING SPACED BRACING MEANS INTEGRAL THEREWITH AND LOCATED BETWEEN THE WALLS, JOINING THE WALLS TOGETHER AT VARIOUS POSITIONS BETWEEN THE STUD AND THE PERIPHERY OF THE PANELS. 